Is this to much for an 8th grader?

[Suzybearybake]

My 12 yr old ds starts the next year in April.(We take off a different schedule. ) Any way here is his course load. It is the most full of his acedemic career ,past or future.

Saxon Algebra II, Abeka Grammar and Composition II, Abeka Let's Be Healthy,Abeka Matter in Motion, Spelling Workout H,Omnibus I, Vocabulary from Classical Roots (C,D,E), Piano, Material Logic, Henle Latin II, Rosetta Stone level II and Breaking the Spanish Barrier III, Writing Strands Exposition, 4 chapters in BJU Geography that deal with ancient locales, and baseball.

Alot of the classes he is taking will be finished up this year( Spelling, Vocabulary, Logic, Writing Strands). I don't know if we should just suck it up and realize this will be a difficult year or if I should try to change something because this is just unrealistic to load this much on a child at once. I would appreciate any input or suggestions. Thanks.

[fishnoises]

I have a friend who also has a full schedule for her 12 yr old. (I think he just turned 13.) She starts off with the core subjects and then eases in the extra stuff. I would also see if there is any overlapping of material. Maybe you don't have to do everything in the book! It seems like a lot, but I bet some of that stuff doesn't take up too much time.
My oldest is 10. This is her weekly schedule:
Latin (LCII), Saxon 6/5, copywork, Greek (just learning phonics), vocabulary, CW Aesop B, rcurrently eading the Hobbit, Roman History, Christian studies, Modern History, natural science, (and we try to sqeeze in art but it hasn't been happening. And I majored in Art History so it is killing me!) She does gymnastics 4 hrs a week and dance ministry at church. Phew! I really wish we could study music. But I really don't know where to fit it in...

[Julie in GA]

For eighth grade, I would drop spelling. Also, do you really need grammar/comp AND Writing Strands? (Do you skip the writing stuff in grammar/comp or do it all?) Omnibus I will be a full plate, but you can ease him into that. It also has some essay assignments that you can use for writing. Another question -- is he already finished Alg. 1 at age 12? That's impressive. If he hasn't finished, I wouldn't rush anything just so you can start Alg. 2 in April.

[Beth in Central TX]

This schedule does look a bit heavy with 14 classes, but it is well balanced with music and PE. I'm planning for 7th grade next year, and I've actually reduced the workload because I'm planning on using Omnibus I too.

I think you could exclude either Spelling workout H or Voc from Classical Roots. Both are probably redundant. There's lots of writing in Omnibus I, so I would drop WS Exposition. It also looks like you have 2 science related topics: ABeka Let's Be Healthy and ABeka Matter in Motion. Maybe you could do Let's Be Healthy as a unit study over your summer break?

In 8th grade, you want to gear them up for high school, but you also don't want to overload them. I'm working on this balancing act myself.

[cupajoe]

My 13 yo 8th grader’s current course load is:

History/Geography: BJU World Geography
Math: Finished Lial’s Introductory Algebra..now working through Jacob’s Geometry
Latin: Henle Latin I
Spanish: SOS Spanish I
Writing/Composition: PTIW 1
Science: The Spectrum Chemistry
Vocabulary: Wordsmart CDs and Vocabulary for High School Student
Grammar: Analytical Grammar
Literature: Homegrown World Literature using Glencoe Lit guides (approximately 2 novels/month… I also supplement with BJU Fundamentals of Literature for short story/poetry analysis). Lots of free reading.
Art: Draw Today
PE: She is a competitive skater, skating 4 days per week for 2 hours per day.

Honestly, her schedule is so full I don’t think I could cram another subject in! She visits with her friends on weekends (as well as while skating during the week). And she usually has about 1 1/2 hours of free time per day (much needed). She is not an "overachiever" type...I would consider her to be average in motivation, yet she manages to stay on top of her subjects and does very well.

I think you could manage what you have planned with your rising 8th grader, depending on his extra-curricular activities. I’d say go for it as long as your child is motivated and all for it!
HTH.

[Suzybearybake]

How about if we drop Exposition, Spelling Workout, Vocabulary for Classical Roots and add Wordsmart on the Computer? Yes, he is almost done with Algebra I. He is on lesson 109 out of 120 and has a high B low A average coming out of it. If we start that in April, He should be on target for math.

[mcconnellboys]

Saxon Algebra II - this is a hard year of math, so I would agree that I wouldn't overload him with too much other written work, as he needs time to work through the longer problems he'll encounter here.

Abeka Grammar and Composition II - are you doing this cover to cover, or selecting? Doing the writing from it, or just using WS for that?

Abeka Let's Be Healthy - I think this is a fairly simple, straightforward study, so shouldn't add unnecessarily to his burden of work. Are you interspersing it with the science, or doing both simultaneously?

Abeka Matter in Motion - I'm not sure how involved this is, but I think it's their eighth grade text, isn't it? If so, I think it should be fine, too....

Spelling Workout H; Vocabulary from Classical Roots (C,D,E) - I would finish spelling before moving on into VfCR. The H level of SWO really is a vocab study in and of itself, as I'm sure you already know from doing level G. Also, the number of exercises in VfCR increases in the D level book, so we actually did C and half of D in one year, then finished D and did E the next. If you do all your vocab study too far removed in time from when your son will take his college tests, the info may not stick with him.... His schedule seems pretty accelerated, so you may be planning on this, anyway....

Omnibus I - I haven't used this, so I don't know how much writing it includes. If it includes quite a bit, then I think I would be tempted to wait and do the last book of WS next year. It is sort of removed from the other texts in the series, anyway, and is all about writing fiction. It might fit well with a modern history study, don't know what period you're doing this year (isn't Om I ancient?)....

Piano- how much time per week? Theory? Is it so involved that it takes a lot of time away from being able to do written work? If so, then I guess I would modify the written work somewhat....

Material Logic - I believe this is the text following Traditional Logic II, isn't it? It might also be prudent to wait until next year to do this....

Henle Latin II

Rosetta Stone level II and Breaking the Spanish Barrier III - I know you don't want to stop a language and lose the momentum you have in it, but doing two higher level languages in a year is also a lot on the plate as you'll begin more translation work now. So this is another reason that I might cut some of the simpler things, such as the health and geography, or else intersperse them with the science/history so that you're not doing both at once....

Writing Strands Exposition - I commented on this, above....

4 chapters in BJU Geography that deal with ancient locales - how long will this study take? Can it be interspersed with the Omnibus work, so that he's not doing both simultaneously?

baseball - is this year round, or seasonal?

So, hope I included some ideas to help you think through all this. You do have a lot on your plate,

Regena

[Mel]

Does the following and I don't feel it is too much at all - of course she doesn't do them ALL each day - we have a schedule to alternate.


Math - Lial's Basic College Math

Science - Usborne books & summary pages along w/ united streaming

Grammar/Writing - Bob Jones

Spanish - Rosetta Stone

Literature - Lightning Lit

Geography - United Streaming & various geography books & worksheets that I own

Spelling - apples spelling 2 pages daily

Vocabulary - list I create each week for her to study (next year we will use Vocabulary from Classical Roots again)

[debbiec]

First of all, Omnibus: Been there, done that. This took up almost 2 hours a day at least. Depends on how much you do.

Latin and Spanish ~ can you break that up somehow? That's a lot of FL with all your other subjects. Latin alone took us about 45 minutes a day.

Math ~ time was always 1 hour.

Logic ~ one hour

Abeka ~ is this for Grammar AND writing? We used just the grammar part mostly and did most of our writing around Omnibus. Grammar alone took us 30 minutes a day (if you have any hope of getting through the entire workbook for the grammar alone) Add writing, which we did around Omnibus ~ about 3 hours a week.

Gosh, what else did you have? I can't remember. Vocabulary? You will have loads of vocab from just reading OMnibus books. Can you not just make a vocab exercise from that? list, look up words and find their roots (entymology)? Just a thought. We had a vocabulary workbook too and it got to be just too much.

SCience and Health ~ I would consider slotting the Health as a science slot and do it over one quarter or something and then replace it with science when you are done.

I would say all of your plan is largely contingent on how you approach Omnibus. The reading time is significant, and the discussion time should be as well (or writing time if you do some of the questions as writing assignments)

I'm sure he can do it _ but this may be a huge transition time wise and level of difficulty. I would implement slowly or at least make priorites with the subjects, which ones are not negotiable and which ones are.

It'll be great ~ Have fun!

[debbiec]

Yes, we had SWO and vocab scheduled our first Omnibus year. The only way we fit in SWO was in the car. By that level, it's mostly vocab anyway and I would drop it and the vocab book. Seriously, just have him make a list in reading of words to know from reading and make sure he looks them up and maybe tie it in with LAtin if it came from LAtin. That could connect those much better. The things I had to make a priority and that were the only things that made it all year, Omnibus (with lots of writing around it), math, science, grammar, latin and logic. That was it. Everything else got thrown by the wayside if we were going to have any kind of life outside school.

Spanish ~ yes, I really wanted to do that too, but there was just not enough time to do it well and right. So, we have committed to LAtin through 9th grade, and then moving to Spanish for the rest of High School. NOt perfect, but what will work within reason for us.